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Bring Food Education Back!

To be honest, I don’t have much to share with you guys today. It’s going to be a busy couple of weeks, as I have a legislative reception I’m planning for two weeks from today and invitations/RSVPs/catering/wine are all being dealt with in addition to my normal duties.

I wasn’t going to post, because I would rather not publish blog posts at all than forcing a post about something boring or that I don’t really believe in.

Today I wanted to bring light to an organization I think is worth supporting – Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. As an adult who was always packed a healthy lunch as an elementary schooler, I think it definitely contributed to my tendencies to watch how I eat. What didn’t help was when I got to indulge in pizza and chocolate milk from the school cafeteria.

What’s wrong with the US?! When I studied in France, I was amazed to learn that school children (and adults) actually go hometo eat lunch with their families on most days! What the what?! (the fact that French people get, like, a 2 hour lunch break is another story entirely…;))

I went pretty wild in middle school when I was given allowance to buy lunch every day. Our food choices were: Cup o’ Noodles, Corn Nuts, pizza, ice cream, candy, chips, and soda. Not a single healthy ingredient was to be found on my middle school’s campus. So of course, I did what any 110 pound 13-year old girl with no threat of losing her slight frame would do: I ATE! Pizza, Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, and a bottle of Pepsi every day.

I may not have gained much weight from it (blast you, 13-year old body!), but it had some health consequences that I believe still affect me today. I lost my voice for nearly a month in the 8th grade and was soon after diagnosed with Acid Reflux. I had just recently broken my wrist playing soccer and didn’t cry once, but what the doctor had to do to get a camera up my nose and down my throat to examine it had me practically bawling.

The selection of food was slightly better at my high school, but the movement to eliminate junk food in schools had since begun at that point. When they replaced the junk food in our vending machines, my junior prom date started buying giant boxes of candy bars and selling them out of his backpack (for a profit, of course! He had to buy me a corsage, after all ;-)).

It’s for this reason that I think the work that Jamie Oliver is doing is so important. Food education is key to helping kids understand how to eat healthily, and the effects that food has on their body.

I don’t have much extra cash to support the charities I’d like to, but Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution has an awesome way of contributing money without spending a penny: with their Giving Assistant.

Essentially, they have a ton of partner sites that agree to give a small percentage of your purchase (if you so choose) to the organization. All you have to do is download a browser add-on:

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And that’s literally IT.

No need to memorize the list of partner sites, either. A little reminder pops up when you access a site that is part of the Giving Assistant program.

Click “Make it Count” when you arrive at the website, and a small amount of anything you purchase (usually less than 5%) will be donated to Jamie Oliver’s Food Foundation.

You’d be surprised how many sites you probably visit regularly that are part of the program! I send packages via FedEx.com almost every day, and it’s one of the partner sites!

The cool part is, for every cent that is donated, you get one entry to win prizes!

Click here to find out more and to install the add-on to your own browser.

Did you brown bag it as a kid, or eat school lunch?

What was your favorite school lunch food? I loved Chicken Patty on a bun, haha. So bad- they were all fried patties!

WOW, this is actually pretty cool! Those infographics always shock the heck out of me, but in modern society, I can totally see how this happens. Your middle school lunch sounds very similar to my high school lunch: Hot Cheetos dipped in Cream Cheese + Diet Pepsi. I don’t even know what possessed me to eat, that but I can say that I AM VERY GLAD Jamie Oliver is running his Food Revolution campaign to try and save similar lost souls.

WOW, this is actually pretty cool! Those infographics always shock the heck out of me, but in modern society, I can totally see how this happens. Your middle school lunch sounds very similar to my high school lunch: Hot Cheetos dipped in Cream Cheese + Diet Pepsi. I don’t even know what possessed me to eat, that but I can say that I AM VERY GLAD Jamie Oliver is running his Food Revolution campaign to try and save similar lost souls.